The new draft Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination – enacted by the former MPs in almost identical form and revoked in May by the Constitutional Court because it lacked the the necessary 61 MP majority – is now back in Parliament to be further processed.
It’s expected to be adopted as soon as possible, in order for the citizens to have something to rely on and to report cases of discrimination they’ve faced. The only way to do this now is to talk to the Ombudsman, but his power only cover the public sector. NGOs are calling for urgent adoption of this law, but with changes to the procedure for electing members of the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination in order to secure a transparent process.
The opposition in Parliament also announced amendments to the proposed legislation.
The draft law went through the first reading at a session by the Committee on European Affairs and at a plenary session in Parliament, in a regular procedure carrying a ‘European flag’ in order to align our legislation with the EU’s laws.
The objective of the law, according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy which proposed it, is to secure the principle of equality and prevention of and protection from discrimination in the realization of human rights and liberties. Discrimination based on race, skin color, origin, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, being part of a marginalized group, language, citizenship, social origin, education, religion, political leaning, other kinds of leaning, disability, age, family/marriage status, property status, health condition, personal property, social status, or any other basis is forbidden.
According to the law, discrimination is any differentiation, exclusion, limitation or giving priority based on a discriminatory basis, by doing or not doing, that has the goal to stop, limit, acknowledge, enjoy, or realize the rights and liberties of certain persons or groups on an equal basis to others. This encompasses all forms of discrimination which includes the inability to adequately adapt and to disable accessibility and availability of infrastructure, goods and services.
Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jagoda Shahpaska urges the law to be enacted as soon as possible, because it ‘may be a matter of fate for some citizens in the country.’ The law is almost identical as its predecessor, having gone through a long process of coordination with the non-government sector, whereas the Venice Commission – whose remarks were incorporated in the bill – has given a positive opinion. As such, it was adopted in Parliament, but former president Gjorge Ivanov refused to sign it. Once it was returned to Parliament, it was re-adopted, but it was revoked again in May 2020 because it lacked the necessary 61 MP majority.
“Right now there is a vacuum in legal mechanisms that protect the citizens from and prevent discrimination, and that’s why the law should be adopted as soon as possible,” Labor Minister Shahpaska has said. The law will be applied both in the private and the public sphere. The legal provisions explicitly state areas where discrimination is not allowed. One such area is labor relations.
She expects the opposition to participate in enacting this law because it is in line with European guidelines and regulation. It defines all forms of discrimination and discrimination grounds. But above all, she says, it defines the election of a professional, financially independent body such as the Commission for Protection against Discrimination, which will be consisted of professionals with 7+ years of experience in the sphere of human rights.
The opposition backed the bill during the first reading, when it is determined whether such a legal solution is necessary. But it has said it will file amendments once it reaches the second reading, which will improve the legal text.
According to the draft that’s in Parliament procedure, the Commission needs to be made up of seven members who are elected and dismissed by the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia. The Commission members are selected with a 5-year mandate, with the right to be re-elected. Four members of the Commission, in compliance with the law, are elected for a 5-year mandate and three members for a 3-year mandate, with the right to one consecutive re-election. The members then elected a chairman to be at the helm for one year. They do not have the right to be re-elected for a second term.
The Commission should to reflect the composition of the society as a whole, and when the Commission members are elected, the principles of adequate representation of all societal groups are followed, as well as the principle of adequate, lawful representation of community members, and a gender balance. The Commission then reaches conclusions and recommends ways to settle violations of rights. Under the law, a lawsuit of public interest against discrimination is introduced.
The Network for Protection from Discrimination had a reaction in relation to the draft law back when it was sent by the government to Parliament, claiming that even though the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy had accepted its suggestion for a more transparent election of members of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination, the government didn’t adopt it. It resulted in sending the draft law as it was to Parliament, where it was adopted. This version was later revoked by the Constitutional Court.
“We suggested to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy that it should amend the provision that regulates the candidate election in order to guarantee transparency, to let all interested parties be included and for the best professionals in the area to be selected. The Ministry accepted the suggestion and we agreed that the selection procedure can be significantly improved and made similar to the process of electing members of the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, which proved to be a better practice. Based on the consultations we had with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, we decided to prepare the legal provisions that regulate the procedure for election of members of the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination together, after which the Ministry said that the draft, with the amended provision for candidate election, has been delivered to government procedure. Nonetheless, the amended draft provision related to candidate election doesn’t exist in the records published on the assembly website,” says the Network, which is a coalition of multiple civil organizations and associations.
The provision they suggested, among other things, stipulated for the candidate list to be published on the Assembly’s website, along with the candidates’ names and biographies. Within 5 days of the list’s publication, a candidate interview is to be organized and broadcasted on the Parliament Channel, conducted by the Selection Committee at a public session by the Parliament’s Committee on Election and Appointments Issues.
Additionally, the changes stipulate for the Commission members to be nominated by a special Selection Committee, comprised of seven members, including two MPs each of the ruling majority and the opposition, two civil society representatives and one official of the National Non-Discrimination Coordination Body.
Therefore, they seek all MPs to support an amendment changing Article 18, related to the procedure for selecting members of the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination.
“We call on MPs to immediately put forward this amendment that will enable a transparent, fair and inclusive process for the election of Commission members. We believe that this is an incredibly important time to adopt such a law and to establish such a body in anticipation of the start of the accession negotiations with the EU,” Natasha Boshkova of the Discrimination Prevention Network has said.
She clarifies that the previous law didn’t have this sort of amendment. She says it’s necessary to make the provisions more clear in order to speed up the process to elect Commission members, but to implement a transparent way following the example of the election of anti-corruption commission members, which involves the inclusion of the public, mainly experts, in the Commission member election.
“We submitted this request to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, which they accepted and then amended before delivering it to the government, but it was rejected. That’s why we’re asking the MPs to submit this amendment and adopt the law with a precise procedure for member election,” Boshkova says.
There are several MPs, she adds, who believe it’s necessary to expand the procedure and who are ready to submit the amendment to Assembly.
The Network says that this addition will enable for the Commission members to be people selected according to a merit system of values, as opposed to being candidates nominated after political or party agreements.
Fani Karanfilova Panovska, the chief executive head of the Open Society Foundation of Macedonia, also believes that this law should be urgently adopted and for the Commission member election provision to be made more precise.
“We believe it’s more than necessary for the political parties that are in Parliament to enact the Law on Prevention and Protection from Discrimination with a consensus, especially the parties that signed the Declaration of Priorities for adopting this law, which will prove that the signature wasn’t just a signed expression of will during the elections, but that it was something they truly believed in. This law will bring discrimination protection mechanisms and let all citizens have equal access to justice, and equal opportunities,” she says.
We, Karanfilova Panovska adds, also call on the political parties in Parliament to pave the way for election of members of the anti-discrimination commission in a transparent and inclusive process, as advocated for by the civil organizations, by adopting the law.
The bill currently in procedure in Parliament doesn’t stipulate a transparent, inclusive election of Commission members, she claims.
“We hope that during debates of the amendments and at a plenary session, a solution will be found so that the law, alongside all its other innovations, enables a process that will secure an inclusive, transparent election of Commission members,” Karanfilova Panovska states.
The law that was revoked in May of this year was adopted in May of last year. The Constitutional Court initiated a procedure for the Law on Protection from Discrimination in February 2020 because it was adopted without the necessary majority. It was revoked in May because after it was reintroduced in Parliament, after the presidential veto, it needed the absolute majority of 61 MPs. According to the Court, this wasn’t the case with this law.
Currently, the country has no law or body the citizens can rely on when their rights are violated.
source: mia.mk
